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Physician Razi (d. 932 A.D.) who true to his Persian habits of thought, looked
upon light as the first creation, and admitted the eternity of matter, space and
time, we come to the illustrious name of Abu Ali Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn
Ya'qub, commonly known as Ibn Maskawaih - the treasurer of the Buwaihid
Sultan Adaduddaula - one of the most eminent theistic thinkers,
physicians,, moralists and historians of Persia. I give below a brief
account of his system from his well-known work Al Fauz al-Asghar, published in
Beirut.
1. The
existence of the ultimate principle
Here Ibn Maskawaih follows Aristotle, and reproduces his argument based on the fact of physical motion. All bodies have the inseparable property of
motion which covers all forms of change, and does not proceed from the nature of
bodies themselves. Motion, therefore, demands an external source of prime mover.
The supposition that motion may constitute the very essence of bodies, is
contradicted by experience. Man, for instance, has the power of free movement;
but, on the supposition, different parts of his body must continue to move even
after they are severed from one another. The series of moving causes, therefore,
must stop at a cause which, itself immovable, moves everything else. The
immobility of the Primal cause is essential; for the supposition of motion in
the Primal cause would necessitate infinite regress, which is absurd.
